THE FORUM VINARIUM AND THE PORTUS VINARIUS IN THE INSCRIPTIONS FROM ROME
A Forum Vinarium and a Portus Vinarius are mentioned in inscriptions from Rome, and in inscriptions only:
- CIL VI, 9181 a, b,c. Funerary inscription, from Rome (litterae istae in quadam ecclesia semper clausa praeter parasceven [= Good Friday] sunt in lapide altari supposito; Romae inter viam Appiam et Latinam; in S. Giovanni Laterano). P Caucilius Lysimachus and P. Caucilius Felix are ARGENT(ari) DE FORO VINARIO; P. Caucilius Eutychus and P. Caucilius Hyginus are both ARGENTARIVS DE FORO VINARIO; P. Caucilius Eros is COACTOR VINARIUS DE FORO VINARIO; P. Caucilius Speratus is ARGENTARIVS DE FORO VINARIO.
- CIL VI, 9182. Funerary inscription from Rome (Via Labicana, five miles from the gate), now possibly in Frascati. P. Caucilius Salvius and P. Caucilius Helles are ARGENTARI DE FORO VINARIO.
- CIL VI, 9189. Funerary inscription, from Rome (In Transtiberim in quadam ecclesia prope S. Mariam), current location unknown. C. Lucceius Faustus is COACTOR A PORTV VINARIO and D. Laberius Epaphroditus is A PORTV VINARIO.
- CIL VI, 9190. Funerary inscription, from Rome, now in the museum in Naples. Someone is (coact)OR DE PORTO VINAR(io). With a consular date of 68 AD.
- CIL VI, 37807. Funerary inscription, from Rome (extra portam Salariam), now in Baltimore, museum of Johns Hopkins university. D(is) M(anibus) C(aio) COMISIO SUCCESSO NEGOTIANTI PORTO VINARIO LAGONARI.
- CIL XI, 3156. Marble base, from Falerii, now in the museum of Civita Castellana. Q. Fulvius Chares is ARGENTAR(ius) COACTOR DE PORTV VINARIO SVPERIOR.
Argentarius = money-changer, banker; coactor = a collector of money (from auctions, of revenues, etc.); lagoenaris = ad lagoenas pertinens, lagoenarius = ad mercaturam lagoenarum pertinens, lagoena = small earthenware vessel for wine.We may entertain the possibility that the Forum Vinarium mentioned in these inscriptions is identical with the Forum Vinarium in the harbours, that the Portus Vinarius of the Roman inscriptions is part of the Imperial harbours, adjacent to warehouses for wine, i.e. the north-east part of Trajan's hexagon. A Portus Vinarius Superior, also mentioned in the inscriptions, may then have been in Rome, the place where the wine stored initially in the Imperial harbours reached the Urbs, and also the local wine that was transported downstream on the Tiber. In that case only samples of the local wine would be taken to Portus, for the degustatio, the tasting (the tasting is discussed in the Corpus Iuris Civilis, see Cogrossi 2003, and cf. for the situation in Late Antiquity Vera 2006).
In the inscriptions argentarii, bankers, are mentioned, but in relation to the forum only; that makes sense, because it was the place for auctions and contracts. Coactores however, collectors of money, are mentioned in relation to both the forum and the wine harbour; these were the places where the actual money was handled, as down payment, after tasting, and upon delivery. Inscriptions from the harbours inform us that wine merchants (negotiatores) from Rome were active in the harbours. It seems significant that in the funerary inscription of Gnaeus Sentius Felix we read, in the same breath: item (patronus) praeconum et argentariorum et negotiatorum vinariorum ab Urbe, "patron of the auctioneers, bankers, and wine traders from Rome".
One of the inscriptions, of a coactor de porto vinario, can be dated to the last year of the reign of Nero, 68 AD. If the portus vinarius is indeed to be looked for in the harbours, then it existed before Trajan built his hexagon; in Ostia or the harbour of Claudius.
THE NAVICULARII MARIS HADRIATICI, SKIPPERS OF THE ADRIATIC SEA
Most modern authors assume, with good reason, that the naviculari maris Hadriatici primarily transported wine (cf. Cassiodorus, Variae XII,24 (537-538 AD): Data pridem iussione censuimus ut Histria vini, olei {vel tritici} species, quarum praesenti anno copia indulta perfruitur, ad Ravennatem feliciter dirigeret mansionem. ("We have previously given orders that Istria should send wine and oil {or wheat}, of which there are abundant crops this year, to the Royal residence at Ravenna."; translation Thomas Hodgkin; one of the manuscripts omits vel tritici; it looks like a gloss; Istria is the peninsula to the south of Tergeste (Trieste, Italy)). It is also assumed that they had their headquarters in Ostia-Portus (Paci 2001, 74-76). They are documented frequently in the harbours (and only there), sometimes in the same breath with the wine trade and the forum vinarium. A dedication to their Genius, found in Ostia, most likely comes from their guild seat (inscription N; note that a lime kiln was nearby). Freed slaves of the corpus, named Hadriaticus, lived in Ostia (see the comment on inscription A).
The Adriatic Sea. Image: Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire (DARE).Apparently skippers from various harbours had joined the corpus: if skippers of only one harbour covered the entire sea, then the guild would have been named after that city. The harbours must have been Aquileia, Ravenna, Pisaurum (Pesaro, Italy), Ancona, Pola (Pula, Croatia), Salona (Solin, near Split, Croatia) and so on (a collegium naviculariorum in Pisaurum: CIL XI, 6362, 6369, 6378). The only fixed point was Portus, where the skippers had to unload their cargo. The size and length of the sea and the large number of harbours will have prompted the skippers from the Adriatic to choose Ostia-Portus as their headquarters, a far more convenient location than, for example, Aquileia (far in the north) or Ancona.
Sarcophagus from Ancona. Third century AD. Depiction of the sale of wine, between Liber Pater and Mercurius.
Photo: Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche.If the Torlonia relief was indeed dedicated by a skipper from the Adriatic Sea (or by the entire guild?) then we should remember that Trajan had improved not only the harbour of Rome, but also that of Ancona, on the north-west coast of the Adriatic Sea. In Ancona an arch was erected in his honour quod accessum Italiae, hoc etiam addito ex pecunia sua portu, tutiorem navigantibus reddiderit, "because he gave the sailors a safer entrance to Italy, by expanding also this port with his own money" (EDR094000). The arch is depicted on Trajan's column in Rome.
The Arch of Trajan in Ancona. Photo: Wikimedia, Claudio.stanco.
